


I Don't Wanna Be (Like Cinderella)

by tacewrites



Category: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Sick Fic, but like...regular sick, it's fine, there's tamaharu if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 16:53:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24170122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tacewrites/pseuds/tacewrites
Summary: Haruhi was maybe a little sick.But she doesn't need anyone to take care of her or worry about her in the slightest, especially not the host club. They acknowledge this about as well as one would expect.
Relationships: Fujioka Haruhi & Haninozuka Mitsukuni, Fujioka Haruhi & Hitachiin Hikaru, Fujioka Haruhi & Hitachiin Kaoru, Fujioka Haruhi & Morinozuka Takashi, Fujioka Haruhi & Ootori Kyouya, Fujioka Haruhi & Suoh Tamaki, Fujioka Haruhi/Everyone
Comments: 12
Kudos: 191





	I Don't Wanna Be (Like Cinderella)

**Author's Note:**

> I know what you might be thinking: A sick fic? In this economy? Rest assured I started writing this months ago and it's literally just a regular kind of sick, I just now find myself with A Lot of Time to finish it.  
> Also, yes the title is a reference to the song Cinderella from the hit disney movie Cheetah Girls from well over a decade ago, but we're not gonna think about it too much. Inspiration comes from the weirdest things sometimes and we just gotta deal with it lol.

It had started with a tickle in the back of her throat when she woke up that morning. A quick cough in an attempt to clear it didn’t help, and really just made it worse when she stumbled out of bed. As she’d gotten ready for the day, ironing her blue button down and throwing together a lunch out of leftovers from the night before, a headache slowly began to turn from a dull throb to a pounding ache. She figured that that part was nothing a little anti-inflammatory meds couldn’t fix, and though she grabbed a couple of pills out of the medicine cabinet before heading out the door for school, it didn’t fix all of her problems. By the time she entered the doors of Ouran the feeling in her throat could be classified more as sore than a tickle.

Then came a sneeze. And another. And another and another. About halfway through the day came a shiver, and by that time anyone who had been paying any attention would have already come to the same conclusion that she had been trying to fight against all day.

Haruhi was maybe a little sick. 

As she unsuccessfully suppressed yet another sneeze, she looked up from the notes on her desk as her teacher cleared his throat from in front of the classroom.

“Miss Fujioka, are you quite alright?”

“I’m fine, sir,” she replied. She pointedly ignored the concerned gazes that came directly from her left and right side, as they hadn’t left all morning long and she already told them they were making a big deal out of nothing-

“I’ll write you a pass to go to the nurse’s office,” he told her, his tone indicating that this was not a mere suggestion as he went to his desk and scribbled something down. 

Haruhi sighed quietly but didn’t bother to argue as she put her belongings away and stood up, a quick little shiver leaving her arms with goosebumps as she left the warmth of her chair and slung her bag over her shoulder. In her periphery she could see Hikaru to her right fidget and lean back in his seat, presumably to look over at Kaoru over on her left, but she again paid them no mind as she took the note from the teacher. The ostentatiousness of the piece of paper shouldn’t have surprised her with it’s contents printed out in a font that was too frilly to actually read save for her name filled out and a slightly more legible signature from her teacher at the bottom of the purple paper that smelled so strongly of lavender that she could smell it even with a nose that was starting to get a little stuffy. She blinked at it a moment before composing her expression to hide her exasperation at the unnecessary grandeur of such a small thing that would inevitably be quickly tossed in the trash.

“Thank you, sir,” she said amiably anyway as she headed towards the door. He immediately began to teach again. At the door, she finally glanced back at the twins to nod goodbye and found them both staring after her, despite everyone else already focused once more on the teacher’s lecture. They both leaned forward in their seats towards the door as if they might get up and follow her. Figured that they’d take any excuse to get out of class. But she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of being that excuse, so she quickly exited the room and shut the door behind her. 

She didn’t love the idea of going to the nurse’s office; the only experience she’d ever had with it was during physical exams and that whole thing had been such an ordeal. Luckily for her, no host club boys would be involved this time so there was very little chance of shenanigans happening. She’d go and maybe get some medicine before being sent back to class. 

As she ascended one of the many staircases that she was pretty sure would put her on the path to the nurse’s, she sniffled, coughed, and then sneezed all the way up the steps. 

“Ugh,” she groaned as she reached the landing.

“My goodness, Haruhi, that was quite something.”

Standing at the entrance to the hallway adjacent to the stairs was Kyoya, handkerchief in hand. He moved closer to hand it to her while still managing to be as far as he could be, reaching his arm out in her direction.

“Thanks,” Haruhi said gratefully, taking the white fabric. It was much softer than she expected it to be. 

“Of course,” he replied. He looked at her a moment, studying her with that certain gaze he reserved for quickly passing judgement, then pushed his glasses up his nose. “You look terrible.”

She rubbed at her nose with the handkerchief, side eyeing him as she did. “No one could ever accuse you of being indirect, Kyoya.”

“I see no point in that,” he answered indifferently with a wave of his hand. “You’re going to the nurse, yes?” he asked, changing the subject. 

“Yeah, I’m just going to see if I can get some cold medicine or something to get me through the day.”

“They will most likely send you home,” he told her, his judging gaze looking over her once more. “And I would strongly agree with that course of action.”

“But I’ll miss my last class,” she fretted, instantly concerned at the prospect.

“It’s Friday, surely you won’t miss that much. And besides, I assume Hikaru and Kaoru can share their notes with you later.”

“Their notes are always terrible,” she grumbled. “They always end up begging to come over to borrow mine.”

Kyoya smirked. “And you always let them.”

“Well, yeah, why wouldn’t I?” she asked.

“Just trust them this once,” he chuckled, offering no other explanation. The returning pounding in her head made her too tired to focus on pressing him for one.

“I’ll miss host club,”she tried instead.

“Under the circumstances, I think we can let you off the hook. Just this once. Wouldn’t want our guests catching whatever you have.”

She sniffed and shivered a bit. “It’s just a cold. I’m fine.”

“Regardless,” he replied, finality in his tone. 

Haruhi sighed then, giving up. “You get to tell Tamaki.”

“I suppose I can offer you that much,” he chuckled. 

“Thanks,” she smiled wearily. She then held the handkerchief up. “Do you want this back or…?”

Kyoya made a face that he quickly schooled with all the level of decorum expected of him. “You keep it. I have plenty.”

“Probably five on you, right?” she joked.

“Please,” he replied, pushing up his glasses again. “What kind of man would I be if I didn’t have at least six?”

She rolled her eyes good naturedly, not entirely convinced that there wasn’t at least a small possibility that that wasn’t true. “See you, Kyoya,” she said as she went on her way.

“Bye, Haruhi,” he called after her. “Please get some rest!”

~

At home, after multiple cups of tea and a two hour nap later, Haruhi wasn’t feeling quite as terrible as before. Although, that could have been due to the dose of medicine she’d received from the nurse before she left school. Still, she’d survive. She probably could have toughed it out at school but it was nice to be at home in bed with nothing really pressing to accomplish that would necessitate her leaving the warmth of her bed.

Across the room, her phone dinged, interrupting the silence and startling her a little, but she paid it no mind. It went off again two minutes later as a reminder, but she burrowed further in the covers and, after a few minutes, felt herself drift off. After some indeterminable amount of minutes, her phone dinged twice more in quick succession and she groaned into her pillow before throwing off the covers and stumbling over to her dresser to get it. She groggily made her way back over to her bed, flopping back onto it before looking at the screen.

**Hikaru Hitachiin (3 messages)**

She rolled over onto her back and tapped the screen.

_ 6:09 _

_ You didn’t die, right? _

_ 6:17 _

_ HARUHI _

_ RIGHT!? _

She sighed before typing out a reply.

_ No. I’m sleeping.  _

_ you don’t seem like you’re sleeping ~ ~ _

_ I was. _

_ sounds nice ~  _

_ kaoru and i have notes for you  _

_ Thanks. I’ll get them from you Monday. _

_ you can just get them tomorrow ~ ~ _

_ Why tomorrow? _

_ silly haruhi, did you forget about… _

__

As she stared at the incomplete text waiting for him to finish, she got a separate notification on her phone:

**Kaoru Hitachiin (1 message)**

_ The host club getaway this weekend?  _

She rolled her eyes and, with a few taps on her screen, put the three of them in a group chat before replying.

_ I was hoping Tamaki forgot about it.  _

_ What is there really to get away from, exactly? _

**Kaoru**

_ The stress of everyday life, Tamaki says ^^ _

_ No comment. In any case, I’m not sure Kyoya will even let me go. _

**Hikaru**

_ he said this afternoon you’d be there~ ~ _

_ We won’t even be working. No girls are going. It’s just us. _

**Kaoru**

_ That’s the point! We get to hang out together ^^ _

**Hikaru**

_ no man left behind _

_ if you’re not still actively dying  _

_ you gotta come _

_ I’m not even actively dying now. I’m fine.  _

**Kaoru**

_ Then we’ll see you tomorrow! _

_ I guess so. _

**Kaoru**

_ bye now, Haruhi ~ ~ _

**Hikaru**

_ Bye, Haruhi ^^ _

With another groan, she rolled back over and buried her face in her comforter. The phone dinged once more and she turned her head to see another text just from Kaoru.

_ Sleep well ^^  _

She’d at least try.

~

It had taken a bit, but Haruhi eventually did fall asleep again and was out like a light until her alarm went off the next morning. All in all, she had gotten way more sleep than she normally did. This might have been refreshing, but as she stirred awake, she became conscious of the heavy feeling in her head, the soreness in her throat, and the stuffiness in her nose. Yep, still sick. She sat up in bed with a groan, the sunshine pouring in from the window causing her to squint as she glanced at the clock on her nightstand, her eyes watery and light sensitive. There were still a couple of hours before she needed to leave, which was good since she still needed to pack an overnight bag, having neglected to do it the night before. 

Of course she was still going. Life didn’t stop just because she didn’t feel great, not even host club duties. Not that whatever this trip was would actually involve any sort of actual duties; she’d hardly listened to Tamaki when he explained it all to them the first time, but she did know it was just another silly, frivolous activity he’d thought up on a whim. But that just described the host club in general, so it seemed pointless to draw the line here.

Haruhi got dressed in a comfy, oversized t-shirt and baggy jeans and then packed more of the same in a bag along with the few toiletries she needed. She stuffed the smaller bathroom bag on top of the clothes and then paused to before zipping the overnight bag up, taking stock of what she had. Toothpaste, toothbrush, comb, travel bottles of shampoo and soap. Seemed like she had all the necessities. A mental image of Tamaki frantically rummaging through his bathroom cabinets and filling a bag with who only knew what suddenly came to her, and she laughed to herself as she zipped her own bag and tossed it on her bed. 

By the time she’d packed, eaten breakfast, and done the dishes that neither she nor her dad had gotten to last night (he must have gotten home really late again), it was pretty much time to go, so she grabbed her stuff and headed outside. She was grateful for the warm weather and the sunshine that warmed her skin as she leaned against the metal railing of the walkway. The street was quiet, as very few people seemed to be up and about at this hour on a Saturday, and she took the time to enjoy the next few minutes of quiet that she knew wouldn’t last just as soon as the twins showed up to drag her away from it. They hadn’t exactly talked about coming to pick her up, but past experience led her to believe that they would come without waiting to be asked to do so or caring that she could find her own way, and she didn’t feel up to fighting that fight today. Since she hadn’t texted to tell them that she was too sick to go, she knew they’d come.

She was right, of course. The peace and quiet was fairly quickly interrupted by the sound of a vehicle approaching, and she was grateful that no one else happened to be out on the street to notice the embarrassingly ostentatious limo that drove up, Hikaru and Kaoru hanging out the rolled down window. They waved her over as soon as the limo stopped. 

“We don’t have to kidnap you today?” Kaoru asked as she approached, head cocked to the side and eyeing her in a way that seemed like he expected her to keel over at any moment and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. “You’re just...waiting for us?”

“What would be the point in doing otherwise?” she asked, sounding horribly congested as she hopped into the backseat, reluctantly sitting between them when they made no move to suggest they meant for her to sit anywhere else. “Either way, the result is the same.”

“It’s more entertaining the other way,” Hikaru explained, a similar expression on his face as his brother’s. 

She sniffed. “Sorry to ruin your fun. I wasn’t really in the mood for surprise kidnappings so I’m taking the path of least resistance today.”

Neither of the twins seemed to have a good response for that, and they lapsed into an uncharacteristic silence as the limo took off down the road. Haruhi was grateful, as it meant she could save her energy for later. She assumed she’d need it. After a few minutes, Hikaru shifted awkwardly beside her.

“You’re up for coming, right?” he asked. 

Haruhi leaned her head back against the seat, eyes closed. “As much as ever. Don’t worry about me, guys. Colds are colds and I’ve lived through plenty of them without needing anyone to fuss over me. I’ll be fine.”

She heard them both utter some sort of agreement, and then the three of them fell silent again as the limo sped down the road to their destination.

~

The destination, as it turned out, was not a beach, or a water park resort, or an indoor arctic retreat (which Haruhi was still confused about the existence of), but instead just a very big house Kyoya’s family happened to own in the mountains. As a third house. A third house that, according to Kyoya, was slightly smaller than his family’s actual house but slightly bigger than the beach house, which Haruhi remembered was giant. 

“Why do you own so many houses?” she asked Kyoya incredulously.

The boy looked like this question confused him. “Where else are we supposed to stay when we travel?”

She wanted to point out that things like hotels and cheap rentals existed, but knew exactly how well that would be received, so she saved herself the headache to her already stuffy head and chose to let the subject drop. 

“So, what exactly are we doing here?” she asked instead. A tickle in her nose that she’d been suppressing got the better of her, and after sneezing four times in a row, she sniffled. “Sorry.”

Kyoya reached into his pocket and produced another handkerchief and held it out to her. She took it sheepishly. “I believe our time will be rather low key,” he replied.

“Yeah, but a normal person’s definition or Tamaki’s?”

Her attention was pulled upwards when she heard a dramatic sigh and found Tamaki lazily perched at the railing of the open upstairs hallway. “You have so little faith in me, dear Haruhi.”

“Do I have a reason to have more?” she asked. Beside her, she heard Kyoya chuckle.

“First of all, rude,” Tamaki pouted, staring down at her. “Second of all,” he continued as he made to saunter down the stairs, “while I generally do tend to go just a little overboard-”

“A little?” Haruhi interrupted with a grin.

“A little,  _ tiny bit _ ,” he pinched his fingers close together, “overboard, I think you’ll find that not to be the case this time. We shall have a fun, low key time in which we get to relax. We can play games, watch movies, eat snacks, or do absolutely none of those things and find something else entirely.”

Haruhi stood staring at the boy in front of her, studying him with suspicion. “So no gimmicks?”

“None!”

“No guests?”

“As far as the eye can see!”

“No crazy tasks that would secretly be designed to practice our host skills?”

“Exactly!”

She scrubbed a hand over her face. “So I really could just be at home right now.”

Tamaki looked thoughtful for a moment. “Oh, well you could be, Haruhi. But then,” he added, suddenly reaching out and pulling her into an incredibly tight hug, “you wouldn’t be here with us!”

“I’m gonna sneeze on you,” she warned, muffled against his shirt. 

He released her then and stepped back as she sneezed into the handkerchief Kyoya had given her.

“Bless you,” Kyoya said indifferently as he scribbled something down in a notebook.

“Thanks,” she groaned. 

“Oh,” Tamaki gasped as he snapped his finger, “I did forget to mention that we do have one structured thing. Honey was going to teach us how to bake chocolate mousse cake so that we can bake it for our guests some time, but that’s it!”

“I don’t know if you can tell by the  _ everything _ about me,” Haruhi said as she gestured to herself,” but I don’t think I should be baking anything.”

“Hmm, well, you can be excused from that, I suppose.”

“You’re too kind,” she replied, deadpan, as she went to find the others.

~

Unstructured chill out time sounded nice, but before Haruhi could let herself do something “low key”, she really had to get Hikaru and Kaoru to give her the notes she had missed in class. Luckily, they’d brought the notes, figuring that she would ask, and the three of them sat around the bench of a patio table on the back porch, Haruhi in the middle, as she copied from their surprisingly thorough notes while they watched on either side. 

“Thanks for doing this,” she said as she carefully copied down what the twins wrote, comparing both of their books to make sure she got everything, and finding very little differences between them. 

“We figured you’d ask,” Kaoru replied, “so we had to be prepared.”

She was grateful to be sitting outside, as the sun felt even better than it had earlier, and it made her feel not quite as miserable. Still, she couldn’t suppress the cold chill that made her suddenly shiver, and she rubbed her arms for a second before going back to her task. Neither of the boys made a big deal about it, which she was grateful for.

“Damn, it’s pretty hot out,” Hikaru commented offhandedly after a few minutes as he shucked off the sweatshirt he’d been wearing all morning. “I’ll just put this over here,” he continued, moving to place the sweatshirt beside him, “unless...you want it, Kaoru? Haruhi?”

“Nah,” Kaoru replied quickly before she could say anything. “Haruhi can have it.”

She glanced at Hikaru then at the sweatshirt, which looked big and cozy, and best of all, warm. “Yeah, I guess...if you don’t want it.”

“Nope, all yours.”

She stood to put it on and then sat back down, even more comfortable than she had been. “Thanks.”

Hikaru made a noncommittal noise of some sort as she went back to copying notes, and did not complain at all when the twins shifted so that they sat closer still, sandwiching her gently between them, warming her just a little more. 

~

“Haruhi,” Honey called after her in a singsong voice as she trailed after Kyoya, who was taking to show her the house’s book collection, which he had said “might be bigger than the one at home”. She had successfully managed not to roll her eyes at that. They both stopped to find Honey skipping towards her, Mori in tow. 

“Hey Honey,” Haruhi said as the small boy came to a halting stop in front of her. “What’s up?”

“That’s what I wanted to ask you!” Honey replied sweetly. “You’re sick, right?”

“I’m fine,” she told him, “it’s just a cold.”

“Which means you’re sick,” he said, smiling a smile that was too big for the conversation they were having. 

“I’m fine,” she repeated kindly, looking around in hopes that no one else was listening.

He ignored her protests. “Want a couple of these?” he asked as he shoved a handful of what looked like pieces of wrapped candy up to her surprised face. “They’re cherry!”

They were lozenges, is what they were. “It’s alright, you keep them-”

“Except I want you to have them,” he interrupted, batting his eyelashes at her. He stopped, suddenly looking tearful. “But, if you don’t want them, I guess I’ll just go-”

“No, no, no!” Haruhi exclaimed, causing her to cough. “I’ll take them, thank you, Honey.”

The tears were instantly gone. “Yay!” he cheered, putting at least ten of them in her waiting hand. “Takashi has something for you, too.”

Mori came forward and handed her a dark blue mug, the contents of which smelled sweet and warmed the outside of the mug.

“It’s ginger tea,” Honey explained. “I like drinking it when I’m sick, especially when I have a fever.” He looked pensive for a moment. “I don’t think it helps with the fever, but it tastes good!”

“I don’t have a fever,” Haruhi told him. “At least, I don’t think so.”

Mori was suddenly very close then, and his very big hand was pressed against her comparatively very small forehead. Her mouth hung open, shocked at his quick movement and the close proximity that the two of them hardly ever shared, but she stayed still nonetheless while he checked her temperature.

“No,” Mori finally said in his deep voice as his hand dropped and he backed up a little. “No fever.”

“T-thanks, Mori.” Was he sure? She felt warmer than before. But surely Mori knew; he took care of Honey, after all, and was always in tune with his cousin’s needs.

Kyoya cleared his throat. “I feel as though we could have handled that differently.”

“You did remind me though,” Haruhi said, collecting herself, “I have some cold medicine to take. Now I have something to take it with.” 

“Yay!” Honey cheered again as Mori smiled. 

She put the lozenges in Hikaru’s sweatshirt pocket and dug the cold pills out of her own as Honey and Mori took off. Kyoya scribbled something down in his notebook as she popped the pills in her mouth and chased them down with the ginger tea. It was just as sweet as it smelled and tasted delicious. She smiled up at Kyoya beside her. 

“So, books?” 

~

A few hours later, after she’d scanned the many shelves of books, taken a walk outside, and played a game of cards with the boys, Haruhi was feeling a little tired. She thought about just pushing through, but then discussion about making chocolate mousse came up and, since she didn’t want to be around for that, figured she could take a nap instead. This was agreed upon by all with surprisingly very little argument, and Kyoya showed Haruhi up to her room and left her to her own devices. 

The room was overly large and tastefully decorated, but Haruhi spent no time focusing on anything other than the bed, which was much bigger than the one she had at home and looked like it might be incredibly comfortable. She sat and bounced up and down for a moment, pleased to find that it was, in fact, comfortable as hell. Sometimes, rich people had alright taste. She found her bag in a corner of the room and dug through it, passed the small container of toiletries and found sweatpants tucked away in the bottom. As she changed out of her jeans, she found herself once again thinking about what someone like Tamaki had packed and stored away in his guest room for a trip that was basically a day and a half, and couldn’t help but giggle.

As she went to climb into the most comfortable bed in the world, she heard a knock on the door.

“Uh, come in?” 

“Haruhi? Are you decent?”

Tamaki. Speak of the devil. “No, I’m not, which is why I just casually invited whoever into my room.”

The door flung open and a pink faced Tamaki barged through, a mug in his hand. “Well, how was I supposed to know?” he asked indignantly. “I don’t know your sleeping habits!”

She gave him a look. “They definitely involve wearing clothes when I’m sleeping at someone else’s house.”

“I didn’t think otherwise!” he cried, redder now. “N-not that I’m-I don’t think about your sleeping habits at all, actually!”

“I kind of figured that,” she told him, eyes narrowed. “Before.”

“R-right,” he replied, embarrassed. He looked down at the mug he was holding as if he just remembered it and cleared his throat. “Oh, this is for you,” he continued as he carried the mug over to her. “Ginger tea, from Honey.”

“He sent you to bring it to me?” she asked, taking the warm mug gratefully.

“Well, he was trying to set up in the kitchen as well and I wanted….well, I thought I would…”

“Help him out?” she supplied, taking a sip.

“Him? Oh, well he has plenty of help, but I thought...I mean, what I really wanted was to help…”

She stared at him over the top of her mug, clearly struggling, and his meaning dawned on her. “I’m fine, Tamaki. You don’t have to play nurse.” She set the mug down on the nightstand and sat on the edge of the bed. “A cold is a cold, and I’ve never needed anyone fussing over me in order to get through it, so don’t worry about it.”

Instead of storming off in a huff like he generally did when she told him off, or emitting a string of high pitched noises only dogs could hear properly, Tamaki looked thoughtful. “You know,” he said after a moment, “I have very few clear memories of when I lived with my mother, but I do remember a few occasions in which I was sick and she took care of me.” He came to sit beside her then, his shoulder bumping hers as she bounced up on the bed. Haruhi looked pointedly at the space between them and then up at him until he sheepishly scooted over a few feet and continued. “She’d feed me soup, give me medicine, tuck me snugly into bed-”

“You’re not tucking me into bed.”

“No?” he asked, sounding disappointed, then shook his head. “Wait, no, that’s not the point. The point is that having someone to take care of you is nice sometimes, especially if they genuinely care and don’t mind. I don’t think anyone here would mind terribly. At least...I know I don’t.”

Haruhi smirked. “Yeah, but you have a dad thing,” she teased.

He shot up out of bed. “I do not!” he exclaimed. “I have a kind and caring nature which others find charming, thank you very much!” His face was red again, much to Haruhi’s entertainment as he turned and headed for the door. “But that’s fine! You enjoy your ginger tea and your nap and I’ll just see you later-”

“Tamaki,” Haruhi interrupted his tirade just as he was about to close the door.

His blushing face reappeared in the partially closed door. “What?!” 

_ Thank you  _ she thought about saying, or, more embarrassingly,  _ It is a little charming, I guess _ . But instead, what came out was “What’s in your toiletries bag?”

His mouth opened and closed, clearly working through the sudden topic change. Then he said, “I’ll make you a list while you sleep, if you’re that interested in my beauty routine-”

“Actually, never mind, good night!” she said, flipping over on the bed and pulling the covers over her face.

“Fine, then.” Tamaki closed the door, and she heard him mumble something about not appreciating the art of skin care as he went down the hall. She smiled to herself, and it took a little bit of time to fall asleep with how warm she felt under the covers. 

~

After dinner that night, as the hosts ate slices of Honey’s chocolate mousse cake, which turned out delicious, a discussion of a movie night ensued, and the group debated which movies to watch and how many. 

“We have plenty to choose from,” Kyoya said.

“How?” Haruhi asked. “You’re never here to watch them.”

“We are at this moment,” he replied, seemingly puzzled by her observation.

“We’re down,” Hikaru and Kaoru chimed in at the same time.

“I’ll watch anything!” Honey exclaimed excitedly, cake around his mouth. “Maybe it’s up to Haruhi how late we stay up, though,” he continued. “She might not feel good enough to stay up too late.”

“I’m fine,” she assured him (and the rest of them). “Actually, with the cold medicine I took earlier, I’ve felt pretty decent. I’ll probably have to take more though, at some point. I don’t know when though, I wasn’t paying attention to when I took it.”

The notebook that Kyoya unsurprisingly had sitting next to him opened and closed swiftly. “Forty minutes,” he said to seemingly no one in particular.

“What’s in forty minutes?” Kaoru asked.

Kyoya dabbed a napkin to the corner of his lip before he answered. “Haruhi can take more medicine in 40 minutes, as that would be the appropriate amount of time between the first dose.”

Haruhi stared in Kyoya’s direction. “How do you know that when I don’t?”

“I suppose you don’t pay much attention.”

Kyoya would not make eye contact with her, which wasn’t irregular, but she knew what indifference on Kyoya looked like, and that wasn’t it. In fact, she realized as she glanced around the room at each of them, they all looked at her with a level of care that didn’t come with the implication that she couldn’t take care of herself. They just...cared. And didn’t mind doing it.

And it suddenly occurred to her that she didn’t mind that they did.

Haruhi took another bite of her cake and said, to no particular person in the room, “Thanks for paying attention.”

~

The next day, Haruhi woke up feeling, thankfully, much better. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much time to revel in that fact, as the weekend was basically over and the hosts were all leaving right after breakfast. A breakfast that consisted of the best pancakes she’d ever tasted, so at least there was that. 

Hikaru and Kaoru drove Haruhi back to her house, which was a much nicer trip than the one before had been. As the three of them talked, the two boys went back to being overly touchy as per usual, and draped themselves around her as they were wont to do, and she bore it as gracefully as ever. 

“You’re gonna be back at school tomorrow, right?” Hikaru asked as she disentangled herself from their grasps and tried to exit the limo.

“Definitely,” she replied. “Can’t miss more school than I already have.” She hopped out and the two boys poked their heads out of the rolled down window. “Although, I’m not that behind, thanks to you two.”

“Anytime,” Kaoru replied with a smile. “We don’t…” he paused for a second, making a face, then tried again. “We don’t mind at-ACHOO!”

Hikaru stared at his brother, who looked back and forth between them. 

“Excuse you,” Haruhi said with some amusement.

“Damn it, Kaoru,” Hikaru chastised, sitting back in his seat. “We share a bed.” 

“I’m sorry,” Kaoru groaned as the window rolled up.

Haruhi watched the limo drive off and then giggled to herself as she went inside.

~

Neither Kaoru nor Hikaru showed up to class the next day, which she kind of expected. Since she didn’t have their company, at lunch time, she decided to eat in one of the study rooms where it would be much quieter. On her way there, she found Kyoya in the hallway, blowing his nose into a handkerchief.

“Doing okay, Kyoya?” she asked.

Kyoya pushed up his glasses. “I assume you can answer that question for yourself.”

She gave him a sympathetic look. “If it’s any consolation, it doesn’t last too long.”

“Yes, well,” he sniffed. “I’m on my way home now. Tamaki is sick as well, and though I haven’t heard from Mori and Honey, I can only assume they’re the same. If it wasn’t obvious,” he added, giving her a look, “host club is cancelled today.”

“Makes sense,” she replied, trying not to grin. “Wouldn’t want our guests catching what you have.”

“Indeed,” he mumbled in an unsophisticated way as he walked off.

She watched him get a little farther away and then called after him, trying to hide her amusement.“Hey Kyoya!”

He turned to look at her, handkerchief rubbing at his nose.

“Please get some rest!”


End file.
